The German scored the decisive goal of the game midway through the second half, and highlighted the importance of securing a victory on home soil.

He said, "We worked very hard to win at home again. We had a lot of draws, but we wanted to win the game - I think you could see it from the first second.

"It was a very hard game, we showed them we want to press. We needed the three points.

"I said at half-time, 'we have to believe. If we keep going like this we deserve a goal and we'll get it', and we did.

"It was a good pass from [Tomer] Hemed to me and I shifted inside and tried to score. I was a little bit lucky.

"They [those three points] are so important. We also played well against Burnley, and we deserved the win again."

The goal was Gross’s fourth strike of the season, and feels that Saturday’s victory will give the squad confidence heading into the Boxing Day clash at Chelsea.

"Every goal helps you personally - I try to do my best and work hard for the team. I'm not only a goalscorer or playmaker, I'm a hard worker. I had a rest at Tottenham, but now I feel fresh again and have played well the last two games.

"When you win the game and take important points, you can go to the next one with less pressure.

"We didn't lose belief because we trained well, and worked very hard. Last week [v Burnley], we were also the better team.

“We made a lot of chances but we didn't score – against Watford, we managed to do that. We defended very well, and they didn't have many chances.

“The worst thing you can do is think about why we haven’t scored or why we haven’t won - you just have to keep going and believe in yourself."